Tamrin is the chief merchant of the Queen of Sheba in the Kebra Nagast, master of a great caravan trading to Solomon's Jerusalem. Reluctantly leaving the splendour of the king's court, he returns to Makeda laden with gifts and full of the wonders of Solomon's wisdom and the building of the Temple; his report kindles in the queen the desire to see for herself, and so sets in motion the journey from which the whole Solomonic legend unfolds.